I Was Featured on the Power of Paint!

I was featured on a new blog called "The Power of Paint."  It's a blog dedicated to transforming furniture and just about anything you can think of using paint.  My "How to Paint Your Countertops" post was the feature!  You may remember HERE when I was featured on Domestically Speaking's blog.  The 2 blogs are actually run by the same person, but The Power of Paint blog is new and is dedicated to all things paint.  You should check it out!  Thank you so much, Maryann!

Top 11 Posts of 2011

I can't believe 2012 is just around the corner.  This year has definitely been a whirlwind with our family.  It has been the best year and the worst year all at the same time.  However, we are going into 2012 with a new perspective in life, full of new goals and new changes.  Let's travel back to my top 11 posts of 2011, as voted on by you readers!  (These are the most clicked posts in ascending order.) Click the title of the post if you would like to take a look back with me!  Let's work our way down to #1, my most read post of 2011!

11.) Gender Reveal- Part Two!- This post I talked about how I made the decorations for our gender reveal party.  That was such an exciting time!!!  I love the way the decorations and boy/girl pins turned out!

10.) 16 and 17 Weeks Pregnant- Our little boy was the size of an avocado during this time!  I shared with you a few belly pictures and some of the things I have been craving lately. It's funny looking at this post because I remember thinking I was so big at the time.  Man, I had no idea what was coming!

9.) 19 Weeks Pregnant- This is the week my belly popped!!!!  I couldn't believe how it just happened all of a sudden.  It seems like it got HUGE over night!  Of course it is continuing to grow, but this was the first real growth spurt.

8.) The Measure of Your Days-  In this post, I talked about the death of my mother in law.  I miss her so much.  Just last night I had a dream that she was calling us on the phone.  I think she would have wanted me to write this post, and if you haven't already, I would love for you to read it.

7.) My Absence- This is when I first announced on the blog what had happened to my mother in law.  I really appreciated all of the sweet messages you all sent me on facebook.  Many of you also came by the funeral home, and that meant so much.

6.) 11 Weeks Pregnant- I remember this time like it was yesterday!  I was exhausted.  As you can see, I didn't even wear makeup to work.  It was all I could do to even get there.  First trimester is soooo hard!  I wasn't sick yet, but I just had no energy whatsoever.  I couldn't wait to be in the second trimester!

5.) Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.- This is the day we first found out we were pregnant! I LOVE reading this post.  It's so much fun to look back on.  I talk about the day I found out, how I told Adam, and all of the emotions we were feeling.

4.) 18 Weeks Pregnant- In this post, I start talking about my ideal birth and what I would like to happen.  I know I've never given birth, and I plan to keep an open mind, but I do have certain things that are important to me, like laboring naturally.  Some of you weighed in and gave me some advice in the comments section, and I greatly appreciate it!

3.) Gender Reveal- Part One -This is the day we found out that we were having a baby boy!!!!  I knew it all along!  This post shows how we planned a last minute gender reveal party and has some memorable pictures from that night!

2.) 14 Weeks Pregnant- I was up 4 pounds at this time, and was eating everything horrible in sight!  I was constantly hungry, and maintained a steady intake of pizza, easy mac, and ramen noodles. :)  This week also had one of my favorite belly shots.  It was when I first started to show.

And the #1 post, which received 544 page views is...............

1.) HOW TO PAINT YOUR COUNTERTOP- I can't believe how popular this post is, but I am glad our experience/mishaps/time spent was helpful to you!  This was a big project for us to tackle, and with suspicions on our side that I was pregnant, the work was left up to Adam.  (I hint in this post that I am pregnant, though I don't think any of you caught on.  Let me know if you did!) 

Thank you for looking back with me through 2011!  I have really enjoyed writing this blog.  It's fun to document things Adam and I have done together, trials we have been through, and the way the Lord has blessed us through it all.  I am definitely looking forward to 2012.  I hope that you will continue to follow us through our journey of making our house a home, stepping out in faith, and welcoming our baby boy into the world!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

I was featured on Domestically Speaking!

This past week, I was featured on Domestically Speaking's 93rd Power of Paint Party!  I submitted my tutorial on How to Paint Your Countertop and was thrilled to find out that my link was the #1 most clicked link!  I'm so glad people were interested in my experience, and hopefully it helped a lot of people who are thinking about painting their countertops.  If you haven't checked out Domestically Speaking's blog, I encourage you to do so.  She has a lot of great ideas on there, but what I especially like about her is her heart for the Lord.  Her heart, as is mine, is to be a Proverbs 31 wife.  She also blogs about weekly Bible verses with specific topics.  It was an honor to be featured on her blog.  Thank you to all of my new followers who clicked the link!  If you haven't already, I hope you will subscribe!  Thank you for reading! 

How to Paint Your Countertop

I know this post has been long awaited!  I have had many people ask me when I am going to post this, and I have a good excuse.  It has taken this long to get it done!  Yes, this has been a work in progress over the past few weeks.  I will explain why below.

I have disliked the color of our countertops ever since we moved in the house.  The color is hunter green.  It's not a terrible color, it's just that I like to decorate light and bright, and this wasn't helping me.

I didn't think to take a "before" picture til we had piled everything up on the stove and bar stools.   Of course, when thinking about painting the countertops, I did some pretty extensive research, cause that's how I roll.  You can ask Adam.  I research everything.  So I finally landed on this product.  I liked that it was made specifically for countertops and was just a one step process.  Something I knew Adam couldn't argue with. :)

You can read about Rustoleum Countertop Paint here.

We bought ours at Home Depot.  You can get it at Lowes too.  You can only have it tinted to certain colors listed on the top of the box, but they have a fair amount to choose from, and most of the colors are neutral.

We decided to go with Cobblestone.  I liked it because it had gray and tan tones to it, so I knew it should go with our wall color which is "Washed Khaki" by Behr.  Before you begin, here are the materials you will need.

Frog Tape (regular paint tape does not do the job), a small roller with a smooth texture (not rough or semi smooth), a foam brush to do the back lip area (you can throw these away when finshed.  They are about 70 cents.) a face mask (THIS IS A MUST!), a small paint tray, a paint stick to stir, and a paint can opener (not pictured).

This paint has TERRIBLE fumes.  DO NOT use if you are pregnant.  Or if you have a baby in the house.  Or if you are a person.  Ok, just kidding, but the fumes are terrible.  The fumes are not like your average paint fumes.  These fumes have a very toxic smell.  It will linger in the house for at least a week, so if you are having company over before then, you may want to wait.  My husband and I had to actually go stay with my parents for a few days afterward.  We just couldn't handle it.  Or maybe we couldn't be around the fumes because....

Before I just started slapping on the paint, we taped off the countertops first, being sure to tape around the sink.  This is a very important step and one you have to do carefully.  It actually only took us 5 minutes to do.

After doing this, I was ready to get to work, but instead of just diving in, I decided to do a test section.  My test section is actually taken up completely by our massive microwave, so if it looked bad it would be alright.  I mainly just wanted to get a feel for how to paint with the product. 



Ignore the trash, please. :)



Ah, you're quick.  No, I hadn't taped off yet, but I did!  Then I carefully rolled my roller in the paint tray and got to work.  I worked quickly, and I kept the roller going in the same direction.  I didn't go left to right and then top to bottom.  I stayed left to right.  I also used the roller on the back lip, but not on the very tip top.  I used the foam brush for that.  I also used the foam brush to do the sides of the countertop. After the first coat, it looked like this.

No, I didn't panic.  I knew it would take more than one coat for the lighter cobblestone to cover the darker green.  So I let this dry for one hour, and then I added a second coat.  Remember, it is better to do several very thin coats than one thick coat.  You want a smooth, even, and thin finish.

2 coats of cobblestone

So by this point, I bet you notice 2 things. 

1) There is a spot on the countertop that is not covering.  We were puzzled by that too.  The spot felt really smooth.  We think since the microwave had been there, that must be where it gets really hot.  It just didn't hold the paint. 

2)The second thing you might notice, is that the countertop color is now very close to the wall color.  The color did not turn out the color it was supposed to according to the box. 

We were disappointed, but I was determined we would get our money back and choose a different color.  So the next day, we drove to Home Depot (with pictures in our cell phones!) to show them what had happened.  They were completely cool and gave us our money back, and we bought a new color to try.  Afterall, there was no turning back now.  So we decided to give "Taupe" a try.  It was still a neutral just slightly darker.  We knew there was no way it would match the wall color.



This time, Adam took his turn with the paint.  Our sample section turned out very well, so he continued with the rest of the countertops.  He just needed one coat to cover the green since the taupe was a bit darker.  We really liked it!  However.......as it dried, it took on a pinkish tint....almost like a salmon color.  We were not happy.  It would have looked SO good if it didn't have that tint.  The color looks really good in these pictures.  Trust me, if it looked like this in real life, I would have left it.

You can kind of see the pink tint in the second picture.  Here is a comparison of the countertop with the color on the box.  Not even close.

So, we of course returned this color as well.  They gladly refunded our money, and we tried....another color.  This time, we went with Canvas.  It had a slight tanish greenish tint with a hint of yellow.  I was thinking it would hopefully look...canvas.

Well......not so much.  No canvas here.  But banana yellow?  Why yes, of course.  After 2 coats of canvas to cover up the taupe, here's what we had.

You can still see the pink taupe color in the background!  Oh, and is that a painted piece of furniture in the garage?  I believe it is!

I bet at this point you are starting to wonder how thick our countertops are.  Probably a few more inches thicker than they were!  So...back to Home Depot we go.  The funny thing is, they still had our tinted Cobblestone on the shelf, but it was discounted since it had been used!  Score!  So we bought it back at a lower price.  Half actually.  So in the end, we actually got a reduced price for our paint.  We were refunded each time we bought the paint, and then the last time we were able to buy it for half price.  Sweet!

Now here's the kicker.  After trying all of these colors, we decided......to go back with the Cobblestone!  I know, I know, all that work to just go back to the original color.  But if we hadn't tried all these colors, then you would not have known what they looked like.  Right?  See, it's all for the good of blogging. :)  After 2 coats of Cobblestone, here is the final color!

Look!  That spot that wouldn't cover is gone!  I guess it should be gone after several coats of paint.

I love the color!  We still have the Frog Tape on and all that, so look for Part Two to see how it looks without the tape and with all the small appliances and goodies back on the countertop.  I will also let you know how the paint is holding up.  Thank you to those who eagerly waited for this post!